Hutchinson Builders MD Greg Quinn tells construction sector to ‘bed down’ to cope with storm

The managing director of Australia’s largest private construction company warns with tough times, builders need to ‘bed down’ ahead of a ‘perfect storm’ in the industry.

Tradies packing up their gear and leaving the Probuild construction site at 443 Queen St in February.

Hutchinson Builders managing director Greg Quinn has warned the construction sector to batten down the hatches saying the fallout from company collapses was “likely to be big”.

Quinn wrote in the 110-year-old family businesses’ newsletter, Hutchies Truth that there was currently a “perfect storm” in the construction industry.

He said while it was not unusual for builders to go under, this time it was different with the significant number of head contractors and subcontractors “feeling the pinch”.

“The financial fallout is likely to be big. It’s already too late for some as the environment is here and now and needs to be confronted quickly,” he said. “There is no easy solution and, in fact, I don’t think there is a policy or regulatory solution, because there isn’t adequate time for structural reform to take effect.”

Hutchinson Builders managing director Greg Quinn.

Quinn said the good news was that Hutchies, which has an annual turnover of about $3bn, was in a relatively good financial position with a debt free balance sheet sitting at around $378m and many people in the company with “in-depth experience”.

“Basically, I feel the market is saying the next year or two is going to be very interesting and now is not the time to be rolling the dice,” he said.

“We should all just bed down for a while and work within our means and don’t take on too much work that requires a whole pile of new and untried people.

“Stay close to your business because difficult issues are going to be the order of the day and you need to be on your guard and be able to confront these types of issues regularly.”

Meanwhile, Hutchies signs may be up but there is no official confirmation yet that they will be taking over the construction of one of the major casualties of the Probuild collapse.

When asked Hutchinson Builders chair Scott Hutchinson would not comment on the future of the construction site at 443 Queen St in the Brisbane CBD and referred inquiries to developer Cbus Property.

Cbus did not returns calls.

Cbus Properties’ partly constructed apartment tower at 443 Queen St in the Brisbane CBD.

Gong for Brisbane’s Mr Music

Meanwhile it may have escaped notice but Scott Hutchinson has been recognised for his role in the preservation of live music in Brisbane.

He has been presented with his businesses leadership gong in the Creative Partnerships Awards presentation in Adelaide. Not one to make a fuss Hutchinson said it was a “very good award. That’s why I flew to Adelaide to get it”.

Music fan Scott Hutchinson owns the buildings of seven live music venues in Fortitude Valley and Newstead.

And he has the runs on the board owning six venues in the Valley — The Outpost Bar, The Fortitude Valley Music Hall, The Sound Garden, Blute’s, Black Bear Lodge and Kickons which co-operated by his son Terrence. He also owns long-established The Triffid in Newstead.

“They all do live music at different times,” Hutchinson said.

“Actually, Brisbane would be like Dubbo without a zoo if we didn’t have live music or it all moved to the northern suburbs.

“Having a good night out isn’t about driving somewhere, having a couple of light beers and then driving home and going to sleep.

“It should have six or seven phases when you’re texting friends, going to different bands, going to different bars. You can do that in the Valley but you can’t do that in Eatons Hill.”

Citybeat had to ask whether that was a typical night out for him?

Hutchinson replied to affirmative but said the Covid pandemic had put a dampener on the live music scene and the big night outs.

He collected his award late last year and said he was open to building more live music hubs in the future.

“The people are now back and everything is firing in the Valley,” Hutchinson said.